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Exploring the Hypothesis of Ethnic Practice as Social Capital: Violence Among Asian/Pacific Islander Youth in Hawaii

Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii, USA, jhs{at}hawaii.edu

Katherine Irwin

Department of Sociology, University of Hawaii, USA

Karen N. Umemoto

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii, USA

Orlando Garcia-Santiago

Department of Sociology, University of Hawaii, USA

Stephanie T. Nishimura

Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii, USA

Earl S. Hishinuma

Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii, USA

Soojean Choi-Misailidis

Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii, USA

Background: Studies of youth violence have usually examined social capital using qualitative methods, but remain limited by small sample sizes. In addition, few studies examine violence among Asian/Pacific Islander (API) youth, even though they are one of the fastest-growing youth populations in the USA.

Aims: To contribute to a better understanding of culture and ethnicity in youth violence among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by quantifying ethnic forms of social capital.

Methods: We use an n = 326 sample of three API groups from Oahu, Hawaii. Defining social capital as ethnic practice, we test Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan forms of youth social capital on intimate and non-intimate violence.

Results: Bivariate findings associate lower violence with language ability among Filipinos, coming-of-age practices among Hawaiians, and community leader engagement among Samoans. Multivariate tests showed language to be the strongest correlation. Bivariate tests also suggested potentially risky forms of social capital.

Conclusions: Results lead us to hypothesize that social capital that deliberately places individuals within their respective ethnic communities are risk-reducing, as are those that promote formal ethnic community structures. Those that formalize ethnic practice and social capital into commercial activities may be associated with higher risk of violence. Given the relatively small sample size and the exploratory approach for the present investigation, further research is needed to determine whether the findings can be replicated and to extend the findings of the present preliminary study.

Key Words: social capital • Asian/Pacific Islanders • youth violence • ethnicity • health disparities

This version was published on November 1, 2009

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 55, No. 6, 506-524 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0020764008094429


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